1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ceiling fan having lights incorporated in the fan blades.
2. Description of Related Art
Ceiling fans are widely used household fixtures. Not only do ceiling fans help circulate the air in a room, ceiling fans also function as decorative items. It is also common to find the lights which illuminate the room incorporated into the ceiling fan. Such lights are usually suspended below the central hub of the ceiling fan. It is also common practice to provide the ceiling fan with separate pull-cord or pull-chain switches for independently switching the fan and the lights on and off. The pull-switch for the fan also allows the rotational speed of the fan to be varied. More recently, ceiling fans having illumination sources which rotate with the fan blades have been introduced. Ceiling fans with rotating illumination sources have the added benefit of providing an aesthetically pleasing visual effect. Examples of ceiling fans having illumination sources which rotate with the fan blades can be found among the references cited below.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,552, issued to Armand J. Soucy, Jr. on Mar. 23, 1965, shows a rotor having lighted tips for a rotary wing aircraft. An integral air turbine is provided at the tip of each rotor blade to power the lights at the tip of each rotor blade. A remote control system allows a user to cause the lights at the ends of the rotor blades to flash in a variety of patterns.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,701,498, issued to Peter B. Ferrara on Oct. 31, 1972, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,722, issued to Theodore J. Van Iderstine et al. on Mar. 27, 1973, show lighting systems for helicopter rotor blades which use a light source and fiber optics to transmit light to lenses at the tips of the rotor blades.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,206, issued to David S. Kendregan et al. on Jul. 2, 1991, shows a ceiling fan with lighted blades. The fan blades of Kendregan et al. are bordered by neon lights which are connected in series. Current to the blade lights is supplied using brushes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,341, issued to Ming-Chien Huang on Dec. 10, 1991, shows a ceiling fan with lights that rotate with the fan blades. Huang does not provide any detail as to how current is supplied to the rotating lights from the stationary house current source.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,422, issued to Sui-Mu Wang on Jan. 21, 1992, shows a ceiling fan with arrays of light emitting diodes embedded in the fan blades. Wang uses carbon brushes to supply electric current to the rotating illuminated panels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,540, issued to Blane T. Blocker et al. on Aug. 1, 1995, shows a ceiling fan with neon lights that rotate with the fan blades. The Blocker et al. device uses brushes to supply electric current to the rotating neon lights.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. In particular, none of the references cited above teach or suggest the unique electrical connections and drive mechanism used in the present invention or the particular arrangement of lights used on the fan blades of the present invention.